Night fell swiftly over the Northern Forest. It was not like the desert’s darkness—vast and silent. Here, the night breathed. Trees creaked, insects sang in strange choirs, and every shadow seemed to move with its own intent.
Zhu Xian and Die Ba rested beside a small campfire, sheltered by a circle of roots that rose like the arms of a living guardian. The warmth of the flames did nothing to drive away the forest’s spiritual chill. If anything, it made it more palpable.
The old guardian of the forest watched from atop a rock blanketed in glowing fungi. Her face lay hidden in shadow, but her eyes still shone with that inner light that seemed to have no source.
“The forest has accepted you,” she said at last. Her voice was neither harsh nor kind. It was… ancient.
Zhu Xian drank a bit of fresh water from a leaf he had plucked from the ground. Die Ba, her knees drawn to her chest, stared silently at the flames. Her eyes still reflected the vision he had described—the Queen Medusa, the battlefield, the symbol etched into his palm.
“What was it that I saw?” Zhu Xian finally asked.
The elder raised her staff and tapped the ground lightly.
“A future. A possibility. Not a certainty. But if you walk toward it with your eyes closed… it will be the only one you’ll ever know.”
Zhu Xian frowned.
“And what path should I take, then?”
The elder did not answer directly. Instead, she extended a hand toward the roots.
From the earth, a glowing sprout emerged. Green, translucent, as if carved from emerald. The air around it filled with such pure Wood-type Dou Qi that even Die Ba could feel it tingling against her skin.
“This sprout has absorbed the will of the forest for a hundred years,” said the guardian. “If you make a vow here, before the Living Forest, it will bless you. It will deepen your affinity with Wood Dou Qi. It will grant you a unique High-Earth technique. But…”
Her blind eyes fixed on Zhu Xian.
“Only if your words are true. If you break the vow… nature itself will tear you apart from within.”
Zhu Xian rose to his feet. The firelight danced in his golden eyes.
“What vow must I make?”
“That is for you to decide.”
The elder studied him for a moment, then turned her gaze to Die Ba.
“And you, young princess. You, too, have a vow to make. Not with this forest… but with yourself.”
Die Ba trembled. The campfire crackled sharply, as if questioning her as well.
Zhu Xian stepped forward.
“Then I’ll do it.”
He knelt before the glowing sprout. The circle of roots tightened slightly, as though the forest itself had closed around him.
“I, Zhu Xian… swear before the Sacred Forest that I will protect Die Ba with everything I am. Not out of duty. Not out of guilt. But because she is my equal. Because in her eyes, I found my reflection. And because if the whole world stands against her… I will still be at her side.”
A warm breeze swept through. The leaves trembled. The sprout shone brighter, then sank into his body. A tattoo of winding branches appeared along his right arm, wrapping around the rune of “King.”
Wood-type Dou Qi surged through him, not as a flood but as roots digging deep into his soul.
The elder nodded.
“Accepted.”
Zhu Xian staggered but didn’t fall. His breathing came ragged, the technique already engraving itself into his spirit.
Then Die Ba stood.
Her voice was barely a whisper.
“I… am no queen. I am no invincible warrior. I am a burden. I always have been—to my sister, to my tribe. But today… I choose to stop running.”
The forest seemed to fall silent.
“I, Die Ba, swear… that I will keep walking. With or without a crown. In fear or without it. Because if there is even a chance to change my story… I want to take it.”
The fire flared for an instant. The elder said nothing.
But her eyes… glistened.
Zhu Xian looked at her. Not with pity. But with respect.
“So what now?” he asked.
The elder rose, taller than her frail frame should have allowed.
“Now… you rest. Tomorrow, the forest will open a path. To the east. To a fortress sleeping beneath eternal branches. There, you will find allies. And enemies. And… answers.”
She turned away and vanished into the roots, as though she had never been there.
Zhu Xian and Die Ba remained by the fire, silent.
And that night, beneath the shelter of ancient trees, there were no nightmares.
Only a new beginning.